While Vixen is re-thinking the washing machine thing I was ruminating about her take on the bleach receipts which is, AIUI, that Richard Owen's story was true but the prosecution decided not to use the material because that's just the way things work. Prosecutors don't always use everything, she reasoned.
It occurred to me: might the public judges hearing the case alongside Massei also have entertained this ludicrous idea? Might they, too, have reasoned to themselves that there must be a good reason why they were not presented with evidence of a blood-soaked bathroom, bleach receipts and all the other lies spread around by the police and gobbled up by a credulous media? I think they might.
Vixen, it doesn't take a lawyer to understand that the bleach receipts would have been devastating had they ever existed and placed before the court. Here is the resulting testimony to make the point clear:
Mignini: Mr Quintavalle, I am handing you two receipts issued by your store showing that Amanda bought bleach on ..
Dalla Vedova : Excuse me, he is leading the ...
Bongiorno; This is impermissible!
Masseu: Please, please! Silence. Let's not have everyone talking at once. Will the Public Minister re-phrase his question?
Mignini: Mr Quintavalle, what can your say about these receipts?
Quintavalle: they show Amanda bought bleach on ..
Dalla Vedova: objection! The witness cannot say that
Bongiorno: Mama mia, santissima!!
Massei: Silence! The witness will confine his answers to matters within his own knowledge!
Mignini: do you recognise these receipts?
Quintavalle: yes
Mignini: where do they come from?
Quintavalle: my store
Mignini: do they bear dates and times?
Quintavalle: yes
Mignini: what are they?
Quintavalle: 8.30 and 9.15 a.m. on 2nd November 2007
Mignini: do those times suggest anything to you?
Quintavalle: yes, it was at those times that I sold bleach to her (pointing)
Dalla Vedova: objection! He cannot possibly know what time he sold bleach. Where is that in his written deposition?
Mignini: Sacre bleu! Can I proceed without all these interruptions? That was to be my next question, darn it!
Massei: Proceed. Sit down counsellor.
Mignini: how can you be sure of the times? Did you wear a watch?
Quintavalle: as you know, nobody wears a watch in Perugia
Mignini: then?
Quintavalle: when I issued the first receipt the bells of St Michael chimed the half hour and I associated this with her blue eyes. I will never forget that moment.
Mignini: and the second?
Quintavalle: the same - except it was the church of St Anthony ringing the quarter hour
Bongiorno: where is the evidence that church bells sound the quarter hour?
Commodi: We got that base covered, babe. We will prove with incontrovertible evidence that this church was running quarter of an hour late, or possibly early, with its bell-ringing.
Mignini: you keep referring to 'her'. Who do you mean?
Quintavalle: (pointing) she over there - the one with the T-shirt that says 'olla you needa eesa luva'
Mignini: thank you. That will be all except for one last question.
Quintavalle ?
Mignini: why are we conducting this exchange in English?
Quintavalle: ya got me there, bub.
See?
PS, as a person with literary connections, could you let me know whether my reconstruction has any merit, perhaps as a pilot for a dramatisation of the trial? Shoot me a PM if you think I could benefit by talking to your agent.
in almost every mental institution in southern California, and somewhere in my archives I have hundreds of similar writings that I saved for amusement and potential sharing (personal ID omitted to not violate HIPAA!). This is at the expense of their sad situations. I am very sympathetic with the mentally ill, and I would venture that there is not a person participating in this blog that has not been affected either by family or friends. 
